Theophilus Okah

How To Start A Blog in 2023: complete beginner step-by-step guide (How to save image titles for SEO: Step-2-Click-Skip-This-Step) Starting a new blog can be very intimidating, especially if you are a beginner in 2023. In today's world, where valuable information is scarcely available for free, beginners in many industries often struggle to get their feet on the ground. Starting a blog is no exception. A huge percentage of readers trying to start a new blog mostly end up getting confused in a “how-to-guide” (usually from an outdated post). Also lots of “how-to-guides” about blogging make some beginners see blogging as a long painful process that is not worth trying out. In this post I will be guiding you on every single thing you need to know about starting a new blog in 2023 with pro tips that will help you become very successful. [Quick start block] Do you want to start a blog fast? This is a long essay and you may want to start your blog without learning all the details. This is the first way to quickly start a blog guidepost.     To start a blog fast simply: Look for these boxes. Follow the brief steps. Click the link to jump to the next box. Click here to go to the first step. NB: Design quick start block (placeholder FAQ) What is a blog? A blog is more like a website where new information is published and written in an informal or conversational style often with the aim of drawing an audience and creating an online presence while making passive income. You're reading my blog right now, and this simple guide will help you create your own blog. Should I start a blog? Waste no further time and get started today! Starting a blog is one of the simplest and most accessible ways to start your own business and earn money online (from anywhere in the world). You don't have to be a professional writer or web developer, nor do you need any qualifications, years of experience in your field, or a degree to blog successfully. You can start blogging no matter your age, location, or level of experience and still develop a thriving internet business. How much does it cost to start a blog in 2023? It costs roughly $34.50 to $65.40 to start a blog in 2023 and cover your first year of critical expenses, depending on your ambitions and the type of site you want to start (web hosting will be your primary expense). In this post, I’ll walk you through which blogging expenditures might be decreased or removed to help you stick to a limited budget. Can I start a blog without any technical experience? Yes, you don’t have to be a perfectionist before you start a blog! Even if you have no technical experience with websites, starting a blog has become so much easier in 2023. This guide was created with ease of use in mind, and I’ll walk you through every step of the way, so that you’re able to learn how to create a blog (very easily) today. Is it still possible to make money from a blog today? Yes, millions of people around the world are switching to making money from the comfort of their homes rather than doing a regular 9-to-5 job every week. With relatively minimal initial costs, blogging may be one of the most profitable online businesses. You don't even have to blog full-time. Even part-time bloggers can earn well into six figures per year from their blogs. All these are only possible with dedication and hard work. A dream will only remain a dream if you don’t start putting in the effort. Writing 2 valuable blog posts every week consistently with good promotion on social media can start generating legit traffic that can convert to income. This post will be like your one-stop-shop where you goto get everything you need in your fridge. :) This post will help you start your blog like a pro with all the tips to help you scale your blog and get atleast 1k organic traffic monthly. Let’s get started on this ride! If you are new to blogging like I was in 2022 you might have a lot of questions spinning around your head right now. I first came across the term blogging in a youtube video far back as 2021. Youtube algorithm randomly pulled a “How to make money online” video to my face which piqued my interest. Although I already started researching on this topic to find my possibilities in the field of blogging. From that time I watched the youtube video, I have taken blogging to be my number one passion because of the advantage it adds to my writing career. So if you’re a writer or you aspire to become a writer blogging is the fastest way to kick start your writing journey. Some of you might be wondering, “If this author knew so much about blogging from 2021 why is he just launch His blog in 2022?. Before I begin to answer this question, this post will explain why you should start your blog immediately and not delay like I did. How to choose the best blogging platform in 2023 Every blog on the internet is powered by a blogging platform. Make no mistake of thinking you can develop your personal blogging platform if you have some level of tech experience. Except you’re a tech company and have a team of experts that can develop and manage platforms like Wordpress, Wix or Squarespace. Why do you need a blogging platform? I will not denial I faced the hassle of choosing a blogging platform, I was really confused because they was a lot of option to select. The major reason why bloggers have to choose a blogging platform is because all bloggers want their blog posts to be available for readers online. It will be a time wasting venture if you were to develop your personal blogging platform when one of such platforms like Wordpress has already been created and is currently being maintained by big tech communities and companies. So if you want to become successfull as a blogger you would need to select one of these platforms to begin your journey to success. Choosing a blogging platform as a beginner can seem a little challenging. There are lots of things to consider before choosing a blogging platform. But just to select a few, these are the most important stuffs to consider:      Budget friendliness Accessibility Speed Reliability Flexibility There are various blogging platforms available on the internet such as wordpress which is a very popular platform (It’s free and very flexible). I installed wordpress on my shared hosting account (bluehost) because of the unlimited access to free useful tools and the flexibility it gives. Other platforms such as Blogger, Tumblr Wix & Squarespace also have great tools that are also free. How to start a blog and make money in 2023 - Step-by-step guide Now that you have decided what blogging platform you will be using, it's now time to choose a domain name and blog niche for your website. Now you're ready to dive-in and learn how to create a blog that can turn into a six-figure business in less than 6-7 months. This how to guide covers 6 important steps to start a successful blog in 2023 -. Choose a blog niche that you can easily write content Choose your blog name and web hosting service Start your blog by installing WordPress. Choose a basic theme to personalize your blog. Add two essential blogging plugins to find your readers and track statistics. Improve your blog security and privacy settings Create a blog that your readers will enjoy by writing engaging content. STEP 1: Choose a blog niche you can easily write contents If you’re anything like me you might be wondering what a blog niche is. That is ok! you don’t have to beat yourself about that :-) In this step I will show you what to consider before choosing a profitable niche and start writing contents. New bloggers often make the mistake of launching a blog without considering critical factors that make for long term success. That is why in this post I have carefully researched out the factors to consider before choosing a niche. [Quick Start Block] Blogging Quick Start – Step 2 This is the first stage in which you will select a blog name (domain name) and purchase blog hosting.     Navigate to Bluehost and press the Get Started Now button. Choose the Basic plan. Choose a domain name and type it into the New Domain box. Make a Bluehost account. To proceed to the next step, click here. NB: Design quick start block (FAQ) What is a blog niche? A blog's niche is the broad topic area on which you will centre your blog contents. Some examples of blog niche are travel, food, fashion, lifestyle, and technology. Incorporating a word or two that clearly indicates what your material is about within the name of your blog (such as fashionbyjane.com or hikewithryan.com) will be extremely beneficial to your future blog viewers. What does the term domain name and hosting mean in blogging? Domain names and web hosting aren't the same thing. They do, however, work together to make websites possible. A domain name system is essentially a massive address book that is regularly updated. Behind each domain name, there is an address of the web hosting service storing the website's files. How to choose a blogging niche in 2023 Choosing a blogging niche is very important if you want your blog to succeed. Writing posts for a very broad topic like “digital marketing” will not be a good approach to become successful as a blogger in 2023. The reason why many blogs succeed at attracting tons of readers is because of the power of niching down. Also the reason why many blogs fail is because the authors of those blogs where not specific about the niche they want to write and publish contents. As a new blogger you can’t be writing contents on technology and politics at the same blog. As interesting as that seems, that will be a counter productive effort if you have growth in mind for your blog. Although they are big media companies on the internet like CNN, forbes, BBC ecetera that can afford to write for multiple broad niches. A better appraoch will be to create a blog for technology content and another blog that will host content for politics to make your blog more specific. Choosing a niche inside a broader niche is called niching down. This concept is used to make blogs more specific about the content they publish. Niching down also makes blogs rank for specific topics in an industry (an example of such industries would include: fashion, entertainment, gaming, technology, marketing, finance ecetera). A niche also serves as a platform to reach a target audience. As I pointed out, digital marketing is a niche in the marketing space. Digital marketing can further be broken down into smaller niches like SEO, content creation, ad campaign management, social media marketing, etcetera. If you were anything like I was back in 2021 I’m certain you will be confused on what niche to write contents. Congratulations, your confusion has just come to an end. Before you finish reading this post you will be certain of what niche to write contents. I know some of you already have a topic in mind you want to start writing contents about. Before you go on this venture they are 6 things I want you to consider. Let take a look at what these 6 factors are! What is your passion for writing content in preferred niche? To be honest writing blog posts that rank on google SERP takes a lot of effort. You have to bereally passionate about writing content to ensure you don’t burn out. Starting out as a new blogger is a lot of work especially when you have decided to compete in very saturated niches like health and fitness, finance, fashion, marketing etcetera. Your passion for writing will ensure you continue to post and update content even when your monthly traffic isn’t great. If you are not passionate about writing in a particular niche I will not advise you to start on a journey you would not finish. You need to take the time to think about what you have to offer to your target audience before entering into a blog niche. If you’re confident you can put effort into making content week after week then your passion is straight. They are many requirements to match if your content must explode in monthly organic traffic. Being passionate can keep you on track even when the result is not forthcoming. Starting a blog from scratch can be time-consuming especially when you don’t have a team of content creators or SEO specialists to put down hours into your blog. You will certainly have to do everything yourself which can easily bring exhaustion. Your passion is like your encouragement engine to ensure your audience is regularly getting valuable content from your weekly posts. What is my goal for this niche site? Before choosing a niche, you must first identify your site's goals. Your goals would often determine the direction your blog would take over the competition in your niche. Your blog goals must include the value you will be providing for your target audience. When your content is devoid of value it becomes useless and will hardly attract readers. When you add value to your readers you will certainly make a profit. Your goals should often determine what income stream you will prefer as you run your blog through the course of time. These are very important questions to consider when setting up the goals for your blog    Do you intend to target affiliate offers? Do you want a hands-off approach where your income is directly from display ads? What kind of income strategy do you want to adopt? Are they problems to solve inside the niche? The major reason why you should have readers come to your blog should primarily be focused on the problems you are solving in your niche. A variety of readers are unconcerned about how great your content and your products are if your content can't provide a solution to their persistent problems. Your blog can drag organic traffic when you provide solutions to the problems that are peculiar to your niche. How can you identify the pain points your audience has? Your audience is going to have a variety of different pain points that can be broken down into the following categories: Learning – readers in a certain niche may struggle because they are having difficulty learning all of the new skills that go with it. Again, there could be numerous causes for this, ranging from their personal inexperience to a lack of reputable information and lessons on related topics. Productivity – this is an extention to the previously mentioned pain points. No matter what they do, members of your target audience may fail in making progress when it comes to learning about or succeeding in your niche. This could boil down to monetary issues or a lack of knowledge, or it could be something else entirely. Monetary – They aren’t able to succeed in your niche due to financial constraints. There could be several reasons for this, such as current solutions not being cost effective for average consumers. They may also not be experienced enough in your niche to know how to save, which leads me to my next point. Support – Something you may come across while you go through each method listed below is several members of your target audience lamenting about the lack of support in your niche. (paraphrase from here) Are there enough topics to write content on? While you might think a niche with tons of overall search volume will have plenty of topics to cover, that’s not always the case. If a niche has some high-volume seed keywords, but not many questions related to those keywords, you might be left with a short list of topics. The reason this is important, is because with my method of building niche sites, your goal is to find low-competition keywords to target. In almost all cases, a low-competition keyword will have low volume. What this means is that you need a lot of these low-volume keywords to build a site that generates serious traffic and income. If you get stuck coming up with 50 or even 100 of these low-competition/low-volume keywords, your niche likely isn’t a good target. I always target broad niches for this exact reason. By going broad from the beginning, you can deep-dive into a subtopic, then expand into another, then another, and so on. Basically, if you want your site to grow into a massive authority site, you need hundreds, if not thousands, of potential topics to target on your site. Is the niche oversaturated? Next, you’ll want to determine whether or not there’s space for another site in your target niche. While I believe there’s untapped opportunities in just about every niche under the sun, some are much easier to target than others. Generally speaking, the niches that have the highest advertising costs will be the most competitive. Some examples are insurance, health and fitness, and finance. While it’s definitely possible to carve out some space in these niches, it’s going to take more effort and likely take much longer to gain traction. Is there enough search volume? Now that you’ve checked off the first few steps, the next one is a big one to verify. Is there enough search volume within your target niche? While you may have identified a ton of question keywords in your niche in step #3, if those keywords each bring in only 10-30 searches per month, there might not be enough potential volume overall to justify starting a site within the niche. After all, the goal is to create a site that can bring in a lot of traffic and revenue as it grows. While the specific traffic and revenue goals will differ from person to person, it’s important to identify what goals you’re after and whether or not your niche has the potential to meet those goals. There isn’t a great way to determine the exact search volume of a keyword. The best you can do is to use some tools and combine them with some common sense. To start, check out Google Trends to get a general idea of whether or not the niche itself has good volume. From there, you’ll want to test various keyword tools that can provide a general idea of the search volume for a keyword. My go-to tool is Keywords Everywhere. It’s super cheap and works as an extension in Chrome or Firefox, showing you the volume of various keywords as you type them into Google Search. Before you proceed into step-2, I want to believe you have selected your writing niche based on the factors I listed for choosing a profitable niche. I know some of you might think choosing a niche isn’t as difficult as I labelled it to be. :-) Wait until you’re a beginner in a very technical field like computer programming/software development. Then you would understand just how difficult it is to settle in a new field or industry. [stop paraphrasing] STEP 2: Choose your blog name and hosting Starting out as a new blogger you will need to come up with a name for your blog. The name of your blog usually is the identity of your blog/business in the face of your audience. Choosing a name that looks professional can create a good first impression to your audience. Your blog name should alway impose the type of contents your target audience will likely see in your blog. Your blog's name or domain name (such as yourblog.com) is what readers will see first, so it should ideally symbolise either the main topics you'll be writing about—or it may be your own name, that of your business, a clever combination of words, or something else. If you're having trouble coming up with the perfect domain name, consider Wordoid.com, a fantastic naming tool that will provide you with a variety of excellent options. Now that you have chosen a domain name it is time to build your blog. There is an abundant list of options to choose from if you want to start building your blog in 2023. For the sake of simplicity I will be using wordpress.com. Wordpress is the best platform for blogging as you have seen from the beginning of this post (platforms for blogging). Wordpress is free and has support for millions of free themes and plugins we can choose from to build our blog. A domain name is always prefixed with a post title when you’re browsing a blog. Here is an example of what i mean in this photo: [Insert image snapshot of domain name prefix with blog post] Bluehost is a shared hosting service that makes it possible for blogs and other websites to be available online. Bluehost uses web technologies to run many of the services they provide for their clients. Blogging Quick Start – Step 3 Next you’ll choose and install your blog’s WordPress theme. Go to BYLT. Purchase the theme that fits your style (we use the tru Theme). Download and save your theme’s .zip file to your Desktop. Return to your WordPress dashboard and go to Appearance > Themes. Click Upload and then Upload Theme. Click Choose File, select your theme .zip file, and click Install Now. Click Activate. Click here to jump to the next step. How to choose a good web hosting service for your blog I will guide you step-by-step how you can choose a good web hosting service to build your blog with wordpress. To choose a hosting service consider the following areas. Reputable hosting company. I use Bluehost to host Digital Network Savvy. I’m very confident to recommend BlueHost to you because I use their service to host my website. I will be a very bad person to recommend a product or service that I haven’t tried out. I also use Bluehost to host several other websites (personal and client website). Free Domain. When I started using Bluehost I was given access to register a domain name for free. When you sign up for hosting today with Bluehost you will be given a free domain name. Bluehost covers you from recurring upfront fees associated with purchasing a domain by yourself. If you already purchased a domain name, don’t worry; you can still include your domain with Bluehost (you’re just one extra step ahead). Great Pricing. Digital Network Savvy is a Bluehost affiliate partner, which means that in addition to using their service, we also receive a commission for referring new customers. Before Digital Network Savvy was live on the internet I already determine to join bluehost. Becoming an affiliate partner with bluehost hardly ever affected my decision of choosing bluehost as my hosting company. My choice has always been bluehost because of their great hosting offers and seemless service. I’m not recommending blue host because I’m an affiliate partner (almost all hosting platforms on the internet have affiliate program), I’m recommending bluehost to you because it is the best reliable option on the internet. (Research the best pricing on bluehost for beginner) Money-Back Guarantee. Bluehost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if Bluehost services didn’t really meet your expectation within 30-days you can request a refund. Reliability. Bluehost is highly reliable because my website hardly ever gets any downtime. Be rest assured that your business will be up and running week-in-week-out on Bluehost. if you’re anything like me that is very cautious about power outages, Bluehost will always make sure you find rest when hosting your business on their servers. Bluehost is powered by world class IT technologies and hardly get any downtime because of their custom-built 20,000-square-foot data centre with enough backup generators to power a city. Join Bluehost today to get your blog running with a free domain name and great hosting plans. Now you know what makes a great hosting service, let's proceed to register a domain name and hosting. Now you're ready to begin, goto to Bluehost and click the Get Started button. Next, select a hosting package. Prices range from $3 and $6 per month, depending on whether you want a simple, single-blog hosting plan or a more powerful one that allows you to create many blogs. After you've chosen your plan, you'll select or input your domain name. If you don't already have a domain name, simply type it into the New Domain box. If you already have a domain name, type it into the I have a domain name box. Next, click. Finally, make a blogging account. To finish your blog hosting setup, click Create your password. You're on your way to becoming a blogger! STEP 3: Choose a basic WordPress theme There are a lot of things to consider before selecting a WordPress theme for your blog. This is very crucial because a WordPress theme is responsible for the overall appearance of your blog (layouts, fonts, colors etcetera). Faq What is a WordPress theme? A WordPress theme is a tool that modifies the appearance of your website. The layout, typography, color, and other aspects of your website's interface. Where do you find WordPress themes? The best marketplace looks for elegant WordPress themes that are well trusted and provide a high-quality appearance.     WordPress ThemeForest ThemeGrill StudioPress As a new blogger choosing the right theme that suits your blog can be kind of challenging because they are lots of things to consider. I would take you through those considerations shortly but before I do that I would like to bring you a perspective on the kind of theme that can make your blog look elegant. What you want for your blog is a theme design that is clear, responsive, and simple to use while still standing out. There are lots of free responsive themes on the WordPress repository. The fastest WordPress blogging themes (tested and compared with real data)           GeneratePress Neve Astra Zakra Customify Mesmerize X Theme Blocksy OceanWP Hestia Why is it essential to select the best WordPress theme for your blog? Choosing the wrong WordPress theme could be fatal for your blog. The appearance and interactivity of your website influence not only how people perceive your online presence, but also your entire brand. Blogging Quick Start – Step 4 In the final setup step you’ll install two plugins that will improve your blog’s features. In your WordPress Dashboard go to Plugins > Add New. Search for Yoast SEO. Click Install Now followed by Activate. Click the Add New button to add one more plugin. Search for MonsterInsights and click Install Now followed by Activate. Click the Launch the Wizard! button to configure MonsterInsights. Click here to jump to the next step. 6 things to consider when choosing your WordPress theme Before you move ahead with your desired WordPress theme. I would like you to quickly consider the following factors. These factors would help you make the best decision for the appearance of your blog in the long run. Here comes the moment of truth 🙂 Write down the most important features you desire for your blog Before you choose a theme, you must decide which elements and features you want on your blog. The most important features in a WordPress theme are the headers, font, colors, post page, logos, and background. The WordPress Feature Filter in the Themes Repository makes it incredibly simple to narrow down your search for free themes based on specific features such as translation readiness and the ability to have a customizable header. It is critical to have the design in mind before making a decision. For example, you should be prepared to decide if you want your blog to have one or numerous columns. When it comes to design and appearance, less is always more. Building from the ground up, the theme you choose should only have elements that will assist you to achieve the purpose of your site, not extraneous ones that will clutter your blog's appearance. Aim for themes with simple and elegant designs Many WordPress themes have a lot of colors, sophisticated layouts, dazzling animation, widgets, and other features that can distract readers from your content. Look for a theme that displays a clean layout with considerable emphasis on its usability and simplicity. It should not be unduly complicated, but it should meet all of your business's requirements. Check the theme's cross-compatibility with web browsers It's no secret that numerous browsers are used to browse the internet. Reliable WordPress developers verify their themes by employing sophisticated browser compatibility tools. Many free themes have to browse compatibility issues. When choosing a theme I want you to prioritize browser compatibility. Always make mobile devices your main target when checking for browser compatibility because many of your readers would use their mobile phones to get to your blog. When your blog doesn’t appear right on mobile devices you would have a big issue with getting traffic to your site. Readers are always with their mobile phones than other gadgets like laptops or tabs. So as much as your theme appears great on desktop and laptop make sure they appear perfect on mobile devices when viewed across different browsers. In any event, don't forget to test a new theme on different browsers to make sure it looks how it should. Priorities on theme responsiveness especially on mobile With the explosion in traffic coming from mobile devices in recent times, you have to consider how responsive your theme is. Most of the up-to-date WordPress themes are responsive by default. However, you cannot assume that the functionality would be adequate. Before making your site publicly available, test for mobile responsiveness. Check for developer support for your preferred theme Nothing is more frustrating than having a bad user experience with a theme especially if you are new to WordPress. There are lots of WordPress themes on theme marketplace like ThemeForest. So many of the developers of some of these themes have stopped providing support for their users probably because their product failed and didn’t make sales. My advice is for you to choose a theme with strong community and developer support like Astra or Blocksy theme. There are lots of professionals that can solve any case scenario you may encounter. Having a bad experience when using a new theme can frustrate the process of building your blog especially for beginners. You want to be sure you have a good developer support for your theme so that you can receive quick fixes for any errors in your blogs appearance. Search for possibilities of theme breaking down on usuage There are serveral reasons why a theme might breaks-down on a live website. This is not a new story when hosting a wordpress website. Some of the reasons why themes break-down maybe due to a plugin update. This normally happens when a plugin is a dependency for a theme. This plugin updates might break-down some features on the theme. Another such scenario for theme break-down will be due to Wordpress update or policy change which can affect themes with no developer support. You want to lookout for more stable themes on wordpress repository. You can easily find a stable theme on the wordpress repository or theme marketplaces by looking for download numbers (These are statistics that can easily be spotted side-by-side with theme download links). There are very popular themes on the internet with lots of support for any theme display and appearnace issue. One of such theme is the astra theme. Astra has a large community and developer support for their users. I use Blocksy theme on this blog and I rarely have any issue with the theme. Not because I am a tech-enthusiast. It’s just that Blocksy theme is just percfect for all the settings I require for my blog. I would recommend Blocksy theme for your new blog because it’s free and comes with alot of free features. Blocksy is a multi-purpose theme. You can use it to build the following types of websites.       Blogs Podcast site Portfolio site Ecommerce stores Online course site Agency website Blocksy theme can do almost any thing you want because it has a repository of templates designs. it’s very customizable and easy to use. Blocksy theme is highly customizable with cool settings that can make your site look elegant. It even gets better when you use the pro version. So if you’re still confused about what theme to use for your blog I will recommend you try the Blocksy theme. You will certainly stick with this theme for a long time. STEP 4: Add two essential blogging plugins to find your readers and track statistics A plugin is a third-party package that is executed in WordPress to add additional functionality to your blog. Plugins can be used to your advantage to create a great user experience for your readers. Also, plugins can quickly become the reason why your WordPress website might break down. In step 3 I talked about how plugins can break a website so it will be wise to uninstall plugins you don’t use for your website. It’s also good to keep your plugin installation to a minimum as too many plugins can affect the speed of your website. The two most essential plugins in WordPress for every beginner   YoastSEO. Yoast SEO is a WordPress plugin that helps you optimize your blog content and keywords to boost its search engine rankings. Much of what Yoast SEO accomplishes is automatic but it still requires your strategy and head knowledge of SEO. If you want to learn more about yoastSEO click here. Monster Insights. MonsterInsights is the most widely used Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. With MonsterInsights, you can quickly connect your WordPress site to Google Analytics in just a few clicks. MonsterInsights helps you learn how visitors find and utilize your website so you can keep them coming back. Now you know what Yoast SEO and Monster Insights are used for it's time to install them in your WordPress blog. Go to Plugins > Add New on your WordPress dashboard. Look for Yoast SEO. Then select Install Now, followed by Activate, and your blog's SEO will increase immediately. Next, look for MonsterInsights. Then click Install Now, then Activate. Then, click Start the Wizard! and proceed with the MonsterInsights installation. STEP 5: Improve your blog security Improving your blog security can greatly impact the safety of your hard work, time, and effort; your blogging income; and your ability to blog more productively. Preventing your blog from getting hacked can save hundreds of dollars trying to recover your blog from a hacker. So, do your future self a huge favor and prioritize blog security after reading this post. Here are 8 simple strategies to keep hackers and other risks out of your blog... 1. 2. 3. 4. Always keep everything in your blog updated Make use of SSL. Use a strong password at all times Use 2-factor authentication 5. 6. 7. 8. Do not use the default WordPress username 'admin'. Install a security plugin Make use of Cloudflare DDoS protection. Finally, preserve a backup of your website. STEP 6: Create a blog that your readers will enjoy by writing engaging content. You have come to the final step of creating your blog. Congratulations for reading all the way down to this point! Just before I get started with this step it will interest you to know that becoming a great writer is a process. At this point you should understand the stages involved in creating a blog from step one. Writing compelling content that can engage your audience takes a lot of effort and great writing. At the end of this step I will show you the quickest steps to write a compelling blog post. Stay connected as I take a dive into these steps. Now that you have created your own blog, it is time to make your vision become a reality. To write your first blog post you must put the following things together. Create a compelling blog. Remember when you installed wordpress you immediately selected a wordpress theme and installed a few plugins. But that’s not enough to make your website create a good first impression to your readers. They is alot of work that needs to be done before you website can begin to drag traffic. You remember I wrote about having passion for blogging at the begining of this post. If your are not passionate about blogging you will struggle with setting up a compelling blog that creates a good impression with readers. A compelling and engaging website or blog in my opinion will be a site that have the following qualities; -. Contents that add value Quality website design and layouts (minimalistic designs) Elegant home page or landing pages Great user experience Fantastic images Easy page navigation Minimal to no distractions (page popups and display ads) When your blog have all these qualities I listed above you can be sure your posts is compelling enough to drag organic monthly traffic. Before you publishing your first post make sure your blog matches at least 3 to 5 of the conditions I listed above. When you leave a bad first impression to your readers, they may not be visiting your blog for a very long time. Even when you update your blog your first time readers will still perceive your content as mediocre and uninteresting. So be sure to add first impression to your bucket list when creating your blog. When you develop your writing skill for contents that get ranked high on google SERP (search engine result page). Always remember to stay focus in providing value rather than lenghty contents that make readers more confused. Don’t get distracted in making money with your blog and lose sight of the value you’re providing for your target audience. Place your audeince as your first priority when creating your contents. Add a photo of yourself. Readers of blog post usually want to know or meet their authors. A photo serves as a great medium to establish a connection with the blog post author. So before you publish your first post make sure you have a photo of yourself in your blog. Make sure your photo is professional and with a smiley face. As a blog owner you mostly will be the main administrator of your wordpress blog. Many big blogs on the internet have a team of individuals that organize and create content for their blogs. As you grow you blog and make passive income it will be a really good thing to hire adhoc team members that can assist you in making contents for your blog. These team members include writers, SEO specialist, b2b/b2c lead generations specialist etcetera. These team members have a kind of access to your wordpress website. They can sign into your blog as an author, seo editor, seo manager, etcetera. As the main admin of your blog it will be a good thing for you and your audience to Identify your team members with their photographs and names. Create a basic logo. Aside your blog name a logo is a little visual design of your blog name. There are many ways to design your logo I would not talk about that in this post. You can use text or graphical illustrations like shapes and colors. I know many of you are not designers. Designin a logo for your blog shouldn’t be a problem. You can easily hire a logo designer on fiverr or upwork for a couple of buck to make an elegant logo for your blog. You can make your logo on design apps like adobe photoshop, coreldraw or use online resources like canva or logomakr for free. You may be required to pay a set fee to get a nowatermark image of your designs from any of these online graphic design services. Include images in your post. They is a quote that says “A photo speaks a thousand words”, if you want to write compelling post add images. A good post must content at least 3-5 images. Add quality backlinks. A backlink is used to redirect readers from your blog to other websites or from other websites to your blog. Readers that use links from other sites to get to your blog are using inbound links while readers that get to other websites from a link in your blog post are using outbound link. Adding many backlinks to your post can make your blog post rank higher on google SERP (search engine result page). A post with a minimum of 100 quality backlinks would rank higer than a post with 10 - 20 backlinks. Google considers incoming links to be signals of high-quality content and outward links to be recommendations of other excellent content. Make sure you add an outbound link to other content creators and bloggers that relate to your post, so that your audience can get more information about a topic. You can also reach out these creators to add a do-follow backlink to your blog post on their websites. Social media presence. Establish a social media presence for your blog. Usually you will have to create compelling contents on tiktok, twitter, piniterest & facebook that will pique audience interest. This might seem like a lot of work but it pays up on the long run. Blogging in the 21st century is a lot of hard work and effort. It takes time, consistency and patience to be visible on the internet. Publish you post. When you have completed the above listed steps your blog post will have the potential to drag 1-3k organic traffic per month. Growing a social media presence takes time. Its all about patience and hard work. When you blog become credible and your blog post rank high on google SERP do not allow negative criticism destroy your efforts. How to blog like a professional: 6 Blogging Tips to Improve Your Writing Define your Target Audience. The first step to improve your writing is to identify your ideal writing niche. If you want to read more about selecting a profitable writing niche you can read my post on [selecting a blogging niche in 2023]. When you have identified your writing niche its time to define who you’ll be writing contents for. My blog is very relevant to readers that are looking to start an online blogging business. So all the contents I create is revolving around the type of readers that will be interacting with this blog. So If you’re passionate writing contents about fashion or ecommerce topics (like how to start up a dropshipping business). Then you will be attracting ecommerce or fashion readers to your blog. Research for Quality Contents. The concept of research cannot be overemphasized if you want to be successful in any endeavour of life. Ranging from starting up a business to preparing the most sort after recipes you cannot do without research. So if you want to be a successful blogger in 2023 you will have to be a really good researcher especially on the internet (google should become you new best friend). Things like competitor research in business is a concept that will not be going away for a very long time. To be honest this blog post was developed thanks to competitor research. I will be very silly to writing my own concept of blogging considering blogging has been around since the 90’s. They is nothing new I will be writing about if I was to write that in any way. Even if I decide to write my personal perspective about blogging It most likely won’t payoff because everything about blogging is aready on the internet. All I have to do as a writter is to gather the most relevant information in a way that is engagging enough for my audience to be perceived as valuable. Provide Value for your Audience. People around the globe irregalless of whatever race or social background will always place value above other things. So if you’re new to blogging always place value above your personal interest (profits and traffic coverage). Because at the end of the day nobody cares about your perspective on anything. The only thing people care about is the advantage your progam gives to them ahead of their competition. If you’re afraid they are too many bloggers in your prefered niche, my advice for you is to forge ahead and start providing the value that is lacking in your niche and you will automatically attract audiences that will convert to profit. This is not rocket science, human being will always be attracted to anything that adds value to their life. Write Original Contents. What makes the difference between your blog and the rest of the blogs in your niche is originality. Audience can perceive the originality of your contents when you’re not copying and pasting stuff (or perhaps I will use parapharing contents). Alot of bloggers goto other blogs and copy their contents to their blog. This is really not a good practices and there are violiation penalties you will face when you plagerise other authors contents. Write Engaging Blog Post. if you want returning visitors in your blog you have to learn the act of story telling. Story telling is a technique that engages readers and make your content look interesting. Story telling is not only used in blogging, it’s a concept that is being used widely in the entertainment industry to keep audience engaged. Story telling normally places an introductory hook that makes readers or viewers to look out for the next connecting line of your story while keeping them engaged. Be Honest. Your blog needs to be authentic and feels real to you target audience. Write your blog posts in a way that repesents who you’re, don’t hide behind the letters in your post. Make it easy for target audience to connect with your personality. Make sure all you write about in your blog is verifiable by your audience. Before you click the publish button on wordpress ask yourself these questions; 1. Is this post helping my audience solve their problems? 2. Are my outbound links legit and authentic sources? 3. Is my post controversial? If you don’t do the above checks readers will perceive your content as not helpful and unreliable. Writing honest content, especially reviews on a product helps establish trust with your audience. Bonus Tip!!! Ignore Negative Criticism. Bad comments are unavoidable and criticism can come from uninformed individuals who aren't actually your blog readers. These folks are not consistent readers in your blog and it’s very easy to spot them when they come in and write crap on your blog. The best thing you can do for yourself is to ignore them. Delete their comments if your must but make sure to control the vibe around your blog. You spent hours crafting your blog post always knowing you’re in control. If you’re a person that can’t withstand criticism then you’re not ready for long-term success in the blogging industry. Anything that is worthwhile would away face criticism, especially from your competitors. Pay no attention to such negativity when it encounters you. How to make money blogging They are many channels bloggers can use to monetize their blogs. Here are the top 6 avenues a blogger can use to generate passive revenue. Ads revenue. You can quickly generate revenue through your blog using display ads. Google Adsense is a very popular advertising platform. Adsense allows google to place display ads on your website on behalf of other companies to advertise products and services. Google gives you a fee per 1000 views of the ads through your content and also a fee per click or action on a display ad when a viewer makes a purchase from a merchant website. Affiliate Sales. As a blogger you can register as an affiliate partner with a company and write product and service reviews for prospecting buyers that is compelling enough to trigger a sale. When a buyer uses an affiliate link to buy a product from a merchant site like amazon, a commission for that purchase is given to the affiliate partner. These commissions are sometimes fixed or flexible depending on the affiliate offer of a company. Sell products and services. Selling products or services on your blog is one of the most effective ways to convert your dedicated readership with your audience into a steady money stream.Selling your product on your blog helps you gain full control of your income. You don’t have to worry about third-party companies cutting heavy commissions from your sales. With trust already established your readers can easily make a purchase. Donations. With donations enabled in your blog integrating services like Stripe or PayPal, your audience can send in donations to support your content. This donation can help you cover your subscription and paid services you use in running your blog. Online course sales. As your blog grows and you become an authority in your niche you can start creating online tutorials that can help beginners kick-start their careers in your niche. 3 reasons why you should start a blog You become a better writer. Starting out as a writer requires lots of skills. Connecting with your audience can be challenging if you can’t write content that is worth reading. When you become a blogger you already start getting your fingers on the keyboard and begin to do research about what your audience is looking for on search engines. You become more confident. You gain consistency by putting your writing to work when you publish content 3-4 times a week. When you begin to see your traffic numbers rise across your post you will be very confident with the effort you put into your blog. You become very confident with the value you’re also adding to your niche. Putting lots of research into your work using SEO will give you authority over search engines. This makes readers to trust your content and shares it with friends and colleagues through social media. You’ll meet new people. A total of 5.07 billion people around the world use the internet today. When you start a blog today you automatically gain the potential to meet and interact with new people around the globe. Blogging makes it possible to learn about new cultural and social backgrounds as you begin to connect with people. 3 Reasons you shouldn’t start a blog Don’t start a blog only to make money. Money should not be the main objective for starting a blog. Your focus should be to provide enough value to your readers. This way when your readers see your contents help solve their problems you can be sure they would automatically convert to sales. Don’t start a blog for just traffic. Don't worry about getting thousands of readers right away because not all traffic is good traffic. Spend your time creating valuable content, and the audience will automatically show up. This only happens when you assist readers to solve their problems. In other words, prioritize adding value over growing traffic. Don’t start a blog for Notoriety. Don’t start a blog because you want people to know you. Nobody on the internet actually cares about you. People have real problems and they are always in a constant search for a solution. Don’t be the person that is always controversial and adds no value to the internet. Make sure every piece of content your post on your blog adds value and solve people's problem. Value is the only way to get visibility in the blogging industry. Conclusion I hope this guide has been very helpful. If you have gone through the entire post I believe you are now equipped with all the information you need to start a blog in 2023. Now that you have all the information you need to start your blog. I’d like to hear from you what steps you found very interesting. I’d also like to appreciate you for reading the entire post. You’re awesome! 👍 If you found this post very informative and helpful I’d like you to share this post on social media to help other readers find this resource. Let me know what you think about this post in the comment section. FAQs What’s the difference between a blog and a website? How do I drive traffic to my blog? How long should my blog posts be? How often do I need to post a blog? How do I gain more confidence with blogging? What are some security measures to take for an online blog? How do you make money blogging? How much do bloggers make? Can I make money blogging? Are blogs still profitable in 2022? What does blog stand for? What does blog mean? Squarespace vs WordPress: Why should I use WordPress instead of Squarespace? How do I become a blogger? What’s the difference between a blog and a website? Are blogs dead? Does anyone read blogs anymore? Is blogging a waste of time? Is it worth starting a blog in 2022? Is it too late to start blogging? Should I start a blog or should I start a podcast? Do I need a business to start a blog? Do careers in blogging have a future? Is blogging a good career? What has replaced blogging? What should I blog about? What is a blog used for? What makes a good blog? What are popular topics to blog about? How do you start a blog for free? How often should I blog? What should my first blog post be about? How do you introduce yourself in a blog? Why do blogs fail? Does Bluehost charge monthly or all at once? Do you have a question that we didn’t answer?